Shattered Applause: The Lives of Eva Le Gallienne

You know that Eva La Gallienne was probably one of the finest actresses to be on stage during the last century. The only problem is that she was a lesbian which may have prevented her from overshadowing a rival, Helen Hayes, or any one of her contemporaries. The main problem with Eva was that she clung to the theatrical stage than to television or film. Her appearance on St. Elsewhere was disrupted by her behavior. She was not always kind or fair to her female lovers and companions. Eva was not at all a perfect human being but on stage, she was magnificient even in the Broadway Archives film, "The Royal Family" with another legendary British dame not yet Rosemary Harris playing her daughter. Eva's sexual orientation did not prevent her from facing cruelty in her own life from outsiders. At the same time, she had her own demons like alcoholism to face. Although she never got the Kennedy Center Honours because she probably wouldn't have attended the ceremony, she was terribly shy and for good reason. Her relationships with women were always suspected to be more than just friendship. SOmetimes they were but not always, in the last years of her life, she lived in Connecticut away from Broadway. SHe valued her privacy because people speculate too much about somebody's sexual orientation. The author of this book first met Eva with his wife and daughter twenty years before, ironically 20 years later, he himself has a male partner which he dedicates this book too. How ironic that the author is in the same predicament as Eva once was but she chose not to live a lie but to be private about such matters. If somebody should ask who her true love was, there is only definitive answer and that is the stage which has no gender preference or prejudices. She was very happy on stage and that's the truth. Rest in peace, Eva La Gallienne, we miss you still.